Thursday, May 17, 2012

NASCAR ALL STAR Race Chassis Selections

Not all teams announce their weekly race chassis'. Here is a list of those teams that do reveal the chassis in the teams race preview:#1- Jamie McMurray - Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion and the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/AllState team will bring Chassis #1106 to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend. Last season, this chassis competed in both races at Kansas Speedway (finishing 29th and 22nd) as well as Atlanta Motor Speedway (finishing 16th).

#5- Kasey Kahne -Crew chief Kenny Francis has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-685 for Saturday’s event. Kahne drove this car, which was built in July 2011, to collect the pole position at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Kahne also drove Chassis No. 5-685 during tire testing at Pocono Raceway in April.

#9- Marcos Ambrose - The No. 9 RPM team has prepared chassis No. 693 for this weekend's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This DEWALT Ford was run previously last season.

#14-Tony Stewart - Chassis No. 14-707: This is a brand-new racecar that has never turned a wheel on the racetrack, but it has seen numerous hours in the wind tunnel. The All-Star Race marks chassis No. 14-707’s on-track debut.

#22- A J Allmendinger -Allmendinger, and crew will be racing their "PRS-815" Pennzoil Dodge Charger this weekend at Charlotte. In its only time out, Dinger put it on the outside pole and finished 17th in the March Bristol race. In that race, Dinger led 54 laps in the early going and showed potential winning strength before a suspension part failed. The "PRS-814" chassis will serve as the backup. It is a new Dodge Charger and has yet to make it onto a race track.

#24- Jeff Gordon - Jeff will drive chassis 24-688 in the All Star race, the car won at Atlanta (85th career victory) and finished 21st at Charlotte (fall) in 2011, and was 12th at Las Vegas in 2012.

#27- Paul Menard - Paul Menard will pilot Chassis No. 328 from the Richard Childress Racing Sprint Cup Series stable in Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. This No. 27 Chevrolet was last seen on track at Phoenix International Raceway in March where Menard finished 31st after he was spun from behind. This chassis was also used in competition in 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and the November event at Phoenix.

#29- Kevin Harvick -Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 391 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This chassis was built new for competition in 2012, and was driven by Harvick earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway where he finished 11th and ninth, respectively.

#31- Jeff Burton -Jeff Burton will race chassis No. 355 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This No. 31 Chevrolet was utilized three times last season at Darlington Raceway (start-24th, finish-33rd), Kansas Speedway (start-16th, finish-25th) and Chicagoland Speedway (start-22nd, finish-15th) and will make its first appearance of 2012 this weekend.

#39- Ryan Newman -Chassis No. 39-686 will make its fifth start this weekend in the non-points-paying NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and its second start at the 1.5-mile oval that most of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team’s call home. The chassis already has two starts to its credit this season at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At Kansas, Newman ran in the top-15 for most of the race but, with less than 70 laps to go, he was forced to the pits for an unscheduled stop with what he thought was a deflating tire. He exited the pits one lap down to the leaders, ending his shot at a top-10 finish and relegating him to 20th place. At Las Vegas, Newman qualified a disappointing 18th but made a strong drive into the top-10, where he ran for most of the race. He drove from eighth to fourth in the final four laps to earn a fourth-place finish at the 1.5-mile oval. Last year, chassis 39-686 made two starts at intermediate racetracks during the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, which resulted in one top-10 finish. The chassis made its debut in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte in October, where Newman started sixth, led six laps and finished a solid 10th. In the second start for the chassis, at the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Newman recovered from a loose wheel and being two laps down to finish a respectable 16th.

#42- Juan Pablo Montoya - Crew Chief Chris “Shine” Heroy and the No. 42 Target team will bring Chassis #1119 to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend. This chassis saw track-time last year at Charlotte and Texas Motor Speedway finishing 14th and 18th, respectively. This season, this chassis finished 17th at Fontana and 16th at Texas.

#43- Aric Almirola -The team will race chassis number 752. The team raced this car at Fontana and Kansas this season.

#51- Kurt Busch - Chassis No. 578: This weekend’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race will be the third race of the 2012 season for this chassis. The team used this particular chassis during races in March at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and in April at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Busch scored a season-best ninth-place finish in California with this chassis after starting 23rd . He earned a 13th-place finish at Texas one month later after starting 27th.

#55- Mark Martin - Mark Martin will drive Chassis 722 on Saturday in the All Star Race. It finished fifth with Brian Vickers behind the wheel at Bristol on March 18. Chassis 708 will serve as the backup and has not raced in 2012.